Wednesday, March 18, 2009

1 NEW YORK STATE SENATE 2 3 4 THE STENOGRAPHIC RECORD 5 6 7 8 9 ALBANY, NEW YORK 10 March 18, 2009 11 3:16 p.m. 12 13 14 REGULAR SESSION 15 16 17 18 SENATOR ANDREA STEWART-COUSINS, Acting President 19 ANGELO J. APONTE, Secretary 20 21 22 23 24

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 3 The Senate will please come to order. 4 I ask everyone present to rise and 5 recite with me the Pledge of Allegiance to our 6 Flag. 7 (Whereupon, the assemblage recited 8 the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 10 The invocation today will be delivered by 11 Father Peter Young, of Mother Theresa 12 Community here in Albany. 13 REVEREND YOUNG: Thank you, 14 Senator. Let us pray. 15 By being a Senator, you have been 16 accepted into the leadership position so that 17 you can more fully serve the people of 18 New York State. 19 In this spirit of community, our 20 prayer today will be to better achieve the 21 goal of dedicated representation in the power 22 that is entrusted to all of our legislative 23 leadership. 24 May you attain that. May God bless

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 you so that your satisfaction in your services 2 will be there for your constituents in this 3 Empire State. 4 Amen. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 6 Thank you. 7 The reading of the Journal. 8 The Secretary will read. 9 THE SECRETARY: In Senate, 10 Tuesday, March 17, the Senate met pursuant to 11 adjournment. The Journal of Monday, March 16, 12 was read and approved. On motion, Senate 13 adjourned. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 15 Without objection, the Journal stands approved 16 as read. 17 Presentation of petitions. 18 Messages from the Assembly. 19 Messages from the Governor. 20 Reports of standing committees. 21 Senator Klein. 22 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 23 is there a report of the Finance Committee at 24 the desk?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 2 There is a report of the Finance Committee at 3 the desk. 4 The Secretary will read. 5 THE SECRETARY: Senator C. 6 Kruger, from the Committee on Finance, reports 7 the following nominations. 8 As a member of the New York Job 9 Development Authority, Andrew J. Maniglia, of 10 Valhalla. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 12 Senator Kruger. 13 SENATOR C. KRUGER: Move the 14 nomination, please. 15 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 16 Are there any Senators that wish to be heard 17 on this motion to confirm the nomination? 18 The question is on the motion to 19 confirm the nomination of Andrew J. Maniglia, 20 of Valhalla, to the New York Job Development 21 Authority. All in favor signify by saying 22 aye. 23 (Response of "Aye.") 24 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 Opposed, nay. 2 (No response.) 3 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 4 The motion carries. The nomination of Andrew 5 J. Maniglia is confirmed. 6 The Secretary will read. 7 THE SECRETARY: As a member of 8 the State Camp Advisory Council, Patricia A. 9 Skinner, of Niskayuna. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 11 Senator Kruger. 12 SENATOR C. KRUGER: Move the 13 nomination, please. 14 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 15 Are there any Senators that wish to be heard 16 on the motion to confirm this nominee? 17 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes, I'd like to 18 second the nominee. 19 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 20 Senator Farley wishes to second the 21 nomination. 22 SENATOR FARLEY: Yes. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 24 Any other Senators wishing to be heard?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 The question is on the motion to 2 confirm the nomination of Patricia A. Skinner, 3 of Niskayuna, to the State Camp Advisory 4 Council. All in favor signify by saying aye. 5 (Response of "Aye.") 6 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 7 Opposed, nay. 8 (No response.) 9 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 10 The motion carries. The nomination is 11 confirmed. 12 The Secretary will read. 13 THE SECRETARY: As members of the 14 State Hospital Review and Planning Council, 15 Robert M. Chur, of Clarence; Shelley B. 16 Hirshberg, of Snyder; John Rugge, M.D., of 17 Queensbury; and Louis B. Tehan, Jr., of Utica. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 19 Senator Kruger. 20 SENATOR C. KRUGER: Move the 21 nominations, please. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 23 Are there any Senators that wish to be heard 24 on the motion for these nominees?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 The question is on the motion to 2 confirm the nominations of Robert M. Chur, of 3 Clarence; Shelley B. Hirshberg, of Snyder; 4 John Rugge, M.D., of Queensbury; and Louis B. 5 Tehan, Jr., of Utica, to the State Hospital 6 Review and Planning Council. All in favor 7 signify by saying aye. 8 (Response of "Aye.") 9 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 10 Opposed, nay. 11 (No response.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 13 The nominations are confirmed. 14 Reports of select committees. 15 Communications and reports from 16 state officers. 17 Motions and resolutions. 18 Senator Klein. 19 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 20 at this time can we take up the reading of 21 Senate Calendar 23. 22 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 23 The Secretary will read. 24 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 104, Senator Savino, Senate Print 2342, an act 2 to amend Chapter 729 of the Laws of 1994 3 relating to affecting the health insurance 4 benefits. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 6 Read the last section. 7 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 8 act shall take effect May 15, 2009. 9 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 10 Call the roll. 11 (The Secretary called the roll.) 12 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 13 Senator Farley, to explain your vote. 14 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you, Madam 15 President. 16 I do rise in support of this 17 legislation. It's a very significant piece of 18 legislation. I know it well; I passed it 19 14 years in a row. 20 And it's something that should be 21 made permanent, to be frank with you. It 22 allows the teachers in school districts, that 23 they would retain their health insurance after 24 they retire unless they differ or do it for

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 everybody else. They can change it, but 2 they'd have to change it for everyone. 3 This has always been a major 4 priority of NYSUT, a major priority of 5 teachers. There's nothing more important, in 6 my judgment, to the retired people than their 7 health insurance. 8 And consequently, I rise in support 9 of this bill, which I know quite well. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 11 Thank you, Senator Farley. 12 Is there any other Senator wishing 13 to explain his or her vote? 14 The Secretary will announce the 15 results. 16 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 59. Nays, 17 0. 18 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 19 The bill is passed. 20 The Secretary will continue to 21 read. 22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 23 105, by Senator Valesky, Senate Print 2623, an 24 act to amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 Law, in relation to permitting. 2 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 3 Read the last section. 4 THE SECRETARY: Section 2. This 5 act shall take effect immediately. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 7 Call the roll. 8 (The Secretary called the roll.) 9 SENATOR SEWARD: Madam President, 10 to explain my vote. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 12 Senator Seward, to explain his vote. 13 SENATOR SEWARD: Thank you, Madam 14 President. 15 I rise in support of this 16 legislation. It's a very good piece of 17 legislation because it will assist our various 18 microbreweries around the state by authorizing 19 them on a limited basis to sell beer at fairs 20 and farmers' markets and those types of 21 settings. 22 It's geared right toward our 23 smaller producers. I have a number of 24 microbrewers in my district, and this will be

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 helpful to them to promote their products 2 where people gather at our various fairs, 3 farmers' markets, and settings such as that. 4 Our wineries have that opportunity, and this 5 will put our microbreweries on equal footing. 6 As I read the bill in preparation 7 for today's session, I found the words very, 8 very familiar to me as well, because since 9 2001 I have carried this legislation, 10 identical legislation for the last eight 11 years. 12 And there's an old expression that 13 says imitation is the sincerest form of 14 flattery, and I'm deeply flattered. 15 I vote aye, Madam President. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 17 Thank you, Senator Seward. 18 Senator Farley, to explain his 19 vote. 20 SENATOR FARLEY: As an aside, I 21 just want to rise and say I also support this. 22 But going back in history, which 23 I've been around here for a long time, I 24 passed legislation to establish the

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 microbreweries, which have been very, very 2 successful in this state and something that, 3 generally speaking, the beer-drinking people 4 has enjoyed. And the microbreweries have been 5 a success, particularly in many areas upstate. 6 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 7 Senator Valesky, to explain his vote. 8 SENATOR VALESKY: Thank you, 9 Madam President. I rise to explain my vote in 10 support of this legislation. 11 Senator Seward certainly has 12 articulated the reasons behind it and the 13 importance of it. I would just, for the 14 record, acknowledge his many years of work on 15 this issue. I appreciate his support. 16 And certainly the microbreweries in 17 Senator Seward's district and around the State 18 of New York, should the Assembly approve this 19 bill and it become law, will be the 20 beneficiaries. 21 I vote in the affirmative. Thank 22 you. 23 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 24 Are there any other Senators wishing to speak?

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 Senator Schneiderman. 2 SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN: Thank you, 3 Madam President. 4 I rise to congratulate Senator 5 Valesky and all the others who have worked on 6 this. 7 I just want to say, as a part of 8 the "One New York" theme of our conference, 9 our constituents in New York City are much 10 more conscious than they ever have been about 11 trying to use local agriculture, conscious 12 about health. 13 And the idea of working with our 14 own agricultural sector in New York State to 15 bring more products to the people in our 16 cities I think is a great idea. And this is 17 one step. And it's always good to start out 18 with an easy sell, so I congratulate Senator 19 Valesky for picking beer to start this 20 process. 21 But it is really a part of a 22 broader vision for our agricultural sector to 23 work with the people in the cities for us to 24 have healthier food, for us to promote

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 New York State agriculture. It's a win-win 2 for everyone, and I'm very proud to be 3 supporting this bill. 4 Thank you, Madam President. 5 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 6 Thank you, Senator Schneiderman. 7 Senator Robach, to explain his 8 vote. 9 SENATOR ROBACH: Yes, I am very 10 happy to support this bill. And I hope it 11 will get passed in the other house and become 12 law. 13 And I would just also, while we're 14 congratulating each other, hope that in a 15 related topic, too, these breweries -- 16 homemade products in New York State are 17 critically important. As we go forward with 18 the budget, I hope for this same group of 19 people, brewers, we will also take off the 20 proposed increased tax, 400 percent increased 21 tax, from 18 cents to some huge dollar amount 22 that the Governor is proposing to tax beer and 23 brewed products like hard liquor and alcohol. 24 That will virtually put this

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 industry out of business and make this great 2 legislation by my colleague, Mr. Valesky, 3 somewhat of a moot point. 4 And I know for Genesee Brewery, who 5 does both micro, large-scale and contract 6 brewing, it would affect them dramatically. 7 So let's stay on this path and not 8 only help the smaller microbreweries but the 9 larger ones in the state as well as we move 10 forward on the budget. But it's a great step. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 12 Senator Oppenheimer, to explain her vote. 13 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: I'm voting 14 in favor of this bill. 15 And I want to bring up an issue 16 that's tangential to this. While it's not as 17 exciting and as popular as beer brewers, I 18 want to mention that we have so many farms 19 that are ready and willing and able to provide 20 snacks that are healthy in schools for healthy 21 food. 22 And there has been some discussion 23 in Washington, D.C., that these little packets 24 of sliced apples or sliced carrots are

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 processed food and therefore cannot be 2 distributed at schools. 3 I would urge people who care about 4 healthy foods and who care about assisting our 5 farmers to get the message to their 6 representatives in Washington, D.C., that 7 sliced apples in a small plastic packet is not 8 processed food, it is merely sliced fresh 9 food. 10 And I hope you will all do that, 11 because it is absurd that this fresh food, 12 which is coming directly from our farmers to 13 our children to provide healthy food, is not 14 available to them because of this ruling. 15 I'm voting yes on the bill. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 17 Senator Bonacic, to explain his vote. 18 SENATOR BONACIC: Thank you, 19 Madam President. 20 I support the legislation. I will 21 just ask my colleagues to know that under 22 Governor Paterson's budget, aid was cut to all 23 of the fairs in the State of New York, with 24 the exception of the State Fair in Syracuse.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 And as you know, fairs are a good 2 thing in the upstate communities. It brings 3 tourism in, economic vitality. It's an 4 educational event for the children and anyone 5 who visits. And I would ask your help on that 6 item on the budget, when it's reviewed, to try 7 to get that reinstated and avoid that cut. 8 I vote in the affirmative. Thank 9 you. 10 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 11 Senator DeFrancisco, to explain his vote. 12 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: Yes, I vote 13 aye. 14 And to follow up on what Senator 15 Robach mentioned in his remarks, in the county 16 shared by me with Senator Valesky there is a 17 brewery, a large brewery, Budweiser, that had 18 a news conference yesterday that basically 19 said if the beer tax goes through, that it 20 would affect them to the point where they 21 would not make a multi-million-dollar 22 expansion. 23 And we just lost -- they got a 24 second vote from the union on Magna, which is

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 a manufacturing plant that they're going to 2 close in Syracuse, 1,800 to 2,000 jobs. 3 So I would hope that while we're 4 doing these bills -- today was a banner day, 5 we're going to actually do three bills today 6 in our four-day weeks -- that we might want to 7 consider passing a one-house budget so we 8 could debate some real issues here that affect 9 real people and real jobs, especially in this 10 Sunshine Week where there's so much darkness 11 over the budget that we're just waiting for 12 the hammer to fall. 13 So I would respectfully say that 14 this is a good bill, it should be voted yes, 15 but there's another bill that we should be 16 discussing openly in public, in conference 17 committees. 18 As the ranker on the Finance 19 Committee, it's very frustrating for me to try 20 to explain to people what's going on. And I 21 explain it very simply: Nothing. And 22 hopefully that will change very quickly. 23 Thank you. 24 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS:

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 Are there any other Senators wishing to 2 explain his or her vote? 3 Hearing none, the Secretary will 4 announce the results. 5 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 60. Nays, 6 1. Senator Fuschillo recorded in the 7 negative. 8 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 9 The bill is passed. 10 The Secretary will continue to 11 read. 12 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number 13 106, by Senator Aubertine, Senate Print Number 14 245, an act to authorize the City of 15 Watertown, County of Jefferson. 16 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 17 There is a home-rule message at the desk. 18 Read the last section. 19 THE SECRETARY: Section 6. This 20 act shall take effect immediately. 21 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 22 Call the roll. 23 (The Secretary called the roll.) 24 THE SECRETARY: Ayes, 61.

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910 1 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 2 The bill is passed. 3 Senator Klein. 4 SENATOR KLEIN: Madam President, 5 is there any further business at the desk? 6 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 7 No, Senator Klein, the desk is clear. 8 SENATOR KLEIN: There being none, 9 I move that we adjourn until Thursday, 10 March 19th, at 11:00 a.m. 11 ACTING PRESIDENT STEWART-COUSINS: 12 There being no further business to come before 13 the Senate, on motion, the Senate stands 14 adjourned until Thursday, March 19th, at 15 11:00 a.m. 16 (Whereupon, at 3:35 p.m., the 17 Senate adjourned.) 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Candyco Transcription Service, Inc.

(518) 371-8910